Random musings on my vagabond existence in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me. My German Shorthair Pointer, Cassie, turns ten today. In human years, we are now about the same age, which is to say that we are both getting old. Thankfully, Cassie remains in good health. At ten years old, she is still strong, still muscular, still pulls me around the block like a sled when I take her for a walk on the leash, but she is definitely starting to sh

The dog days of summer are here, and as I step outside into the thick, soupy air that buzzes with the vibrato cries of cicadas, I am taken back to those lazy, hazy, crazy days of my youth when I would pass the time in the backyard hammock doing absolutely nothing. The hammock hung beneath the great catalpa tree that lorded over our old Pennsylvania farmhouse. The tree was huge—seventy feet tall with a wide, spreading canopy that gave shade to dogs, cats, humans, and any other

Random musings on my vagabond existence in the Endless Mountains of Pennsylvania and wherever else life takes me. After nearly two months of grieving following the recent loss of my mother, I can feel the old joy rising within me again like sap in a tree. It helps that Rachael and I have been spending a lot of time at our mountain house in northeastern Pennsylvania. What better place to get happy again than at your happy place? Nature is balm for my soul. It always has been t